Sean O’Connor grew up outside of Richmond, VA with actual Civil War earthworks in his backyard. Fighting off a strong urge to geek out on that bit of mid-nineteenth century awesomeness alone, we instead engage with Sean about his just-starting-out path in both the strategy and writing disciplines as well as his fairly recent move to Pittsburgh.

A product of the VCU Brandcenter, where he cultivated “the whatever happens to you won’t kill you” credo, an understanding of the power of constructive criticism, the art of reading body language and the critical insight that being an asshole benefits no one – along with several other mature beyond his years attitudes towards the challenges the communications business throws at everyone.

We explore how he was hired by his current agency, deeplocal, and how he defines what that agency does and the collaborative structures they employ. We also get insight into some early work he did with “mega church, UFC style, octagon matches”. Which is worth the price of admission alone.

Frank Walsh was a high-school rocker before discovering his true calling with a camera. Now he’s one of the preeminent photographers with an impressive list of clients. In this episode, Frank and Brian relive the tortuous process of photographing ants and discuss the challenge of pushing yourself creatively in the digital age.

He also candidly discusses his initial oblivion with the possibilities this life offered, his early professional partnership with Duane Rieder to form Rieder & Walsh Photography and how the two strong-willed creatives traversed both the successes and eventual break-up of the partnership.

Frank’s current studio is a beautifully renovated church in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh and his work can be found at http://www.walshphoto.com/

Dimeji Onafuwa gets restless often. A native of Nigeria, he has lived in New York City, West Virginia, North Carolina and now splits his time between Pittsburgh and Portland, Oregon. He considers himself a painter at heart but has also pursued, advertising, entrepreneurship and is currently on a path in the design spectrum where he is finishing up his PhD in Social Design from Carnegie Mellon University with a concentration towards designing for sustainable futures for the commons.

Recorded just after the Presidential election, Dimeji brings the perspectives of both the African and the American experiences to draw from in how he is carving a path forward for himself and his remarkable family.

Dimeji believes design is a great leveler and is akin to gardening in that it needs constant tending. He believes “human-centered design” might be better off being called “other-centered design”, that advertising is a necessary evil, that a better word for empathy might be “responsibility” and he gives us the single best answer we’ve had so far as to whom he would sit down to dinner with for a meal and conversation.

Nathan Wadding grew up on a farm. And he loved it – to a point. When the anticipation of experiencing the life that environment offered met head on with the hard realities that often accompany it – it provided a strong stimulus for wanting more even if he wasn’t entirely sure what that was as a child. Initial forays into music, DJ’ing and then his college tour provided the way forward as he embraced technology, editing, strategy and video production which led him to key stints at production houses here in Pittsburgh.

We explore this rural to urban journey that has him understanding the life of both working for someone and of driving an entrepreneurial enterprise. Our dialogue covers how scary weddings are, working with your best friend, why editing is about asking why from each frame and we discuss the idea of losing the literal frame as the virtual reality technology becomes more omnipresent. Check out some of Nathan’s recent digital content work at http://www.skinnytiemedia.com/